Oh, Zefron. You are a delight to so many. The tweens, the people who have a soft spot for Disney movies yet should probably know better (shh), the parents who feed into the frenzy. But I do think that the guy is talented, and he makes the cheesy movies into something that you would want to see again. I mean, I honestly want to see 17 Again, and I don’t care who knows it. And the fact that he does “serious actor” methods by studying all of Matthew Perry’s characteristics and throws himself so heartily into the dancing and the singing, things he wasn’t admittedly very good at before the HSM series started, but which he pretty much excels at now. So good for you, Zefron, one of the few tween dreams who admits to having sex with his girlfriend (I honestly can’t believe I just typed that).

And then there’s the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I love them, but I haven’t really heard much of them since the first album. That first album is fantastic, though. People seem to have a lot of trouble saying “Yeah Yeah Yeahs.” Don Pardo, the WNBC news lady..

Cold Open: JOE BIDEN! I love you, Joe Biden, especially when you try to call our fave fictional character Jack Bauer. Sudeikis wears fake teeth to play Biden, and that weirds me out a little bit. This is your weekly reminder that I hate Fred’s Barack impression. Sudeikis’ Joe Biden might be a little weak, but he has the overpowering essence of the Biden down. And it’s really full throttle here. “Remember when Dick Cheney shot that guy in the face?” I like the premise under which this scene was written: the POTUS and VPOTUS catching up after the President’s trip. Good way to run down what happened without it being another dry meeting open.

Monologue: Zac Efron is going to grow up to be the straight man all the way around. He’s not going to be the pratfaller, he’s going to be the person scolding the pratfaller. He’s the Joe on Wings. The Chandler on Friend’s. This monologue, and I think this whole monologue pretty much accentuates that. And yes, he did bring Vanessa Hudgens to the after party. That’s all I know about that. Anyways, I love a good straight man. It’s why Chris Parnell was one of my favorite SNL dudes. Or Seth Meyers. Or Ian Roberts of the UCB (though with their just being four of them, he also got his share of crazy characters).

Today Show: This sketch was way, way later in the dress, so of course they moved it up to first for some reason. I get so tired of Kristen Wiig’s Kathie Lee impression, and these scenes always go on forever. Kristen Wiig is so off and on when it comes to cue card reading. Sometimes she’s great, and sometimes she just stares. Michaela, on the other hand, seems weirdly good at it for having been on the show for such a short time. They cut a Sudeikis Harry Connick Jr impression out of the video celeb messages sketch. He sang “It had to be you” and was spot-on, and if I knew Sudeikis I would just make him do it all the time. Which is probably why I don’t know Sudeikis. I do wonder if KLee’s son is that awful. He probably is. It’s weird to think that he would be that old, though.

Science Fair (Gilly): Okay, Kristen Wiig needs to play less annoying characters sometimes. Mary Katherine Gallagher was annoying, but Molly Shannon played her with sweetness. The Spartan Cheerleaders were awful, but also weirdly charismatic. Gilly is just a recurring character that you want to push off a cliff. Side bar, it’s weird to watch the prop guy stand on stage and throw yogurt at Will Forte and run away. When they set up this scene, Zac Efron was practically blushing while standing on set in his lederhosen. I’ve never really liked Gilly, but I can tell you that watching her do the silly little theme dance in person was pretty much wonderfully funny and randomness all in once. The word for her was not “pain in the boots” it was something really long and German, and then (off camera) he ripped off the velcro lederhosen patch with silverwear and threw it into a wall, and that was pretty much hilarious. Bobby Moynihan is getting much better. I love Kenan in this sketch, so much. It’s the only thing acceptable in the Gilly sketches.

Message from the Alliance of Direct Mail Marketers: I kind of love this. “Free, surprise mail.”

Cool Bar: The kids in this scene are so precious. As is Zac Efron wearing a shirt with Texas on it.

Texas shirt!

Children doing Jaegerbombs. Nice. Line rewritten in this scene: “Careful guys, they’re gerbils.” was “They can’t speak with you. They’re not allowed to talk to strangers.” Abby Elliott was also in it dating a cranky seven year old who hadn’t had a nap yet or something.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Zero”: I love this song. And Karen O’s clothing. And her in general. She’s such a rock and roll frontwoman all the way. During dress, she was wearing pink leggings with this ensemble, but she kept having to pull her dress down, so I think she switched to avoid flashing the television audience.

Gay couple from New Jersey! Fred and Bill will always put their heart and soul into their scenes, and it’s great. If only Fred’s Obama had the heart and soul in there. They cut out some jokes about antiquing and things. And Celisse would like you all to know, that people do google and find our blog a lot of the time by searching for Seth Meyers (or “seth meyers shirtless”). But I’ve never called him gay.

Angie Tempura from Bitchpleeze.com. Last time she did this segment, bitchpleeze.com was registered but nothing was there yet. Now it just takes you to NBC’s SNL page. They’re not working as hard with the hilarious tie-ins. Maybe it’s part of the recession. Anyways, Michaela finding new ways to say Bitch please keeps cracking me up. Snarky bloggers. “Zac, what the eff is wrong with you?” I love that. In dress rehearsal, Zac picked her up off the floor and carried her off stage.

I don’t know why, but I find the rabbi/rabbit graphic hilarious. So hilarious.

Jon Bovi is easily one of my favorite things ever about SNL ever. The harmonies. The counting. The sound effect from “Living On a Prayer.” … which apparently they cut out. Whatever. Sudeikis’ “Hall of Fame for Rock and Roll” slip up was played off really, really well. Nice job, guys. I could seriously listen to Forte and Sudeikis singing all day long. And I’m always amazed by how someone as handsome as Will Forte could make himself so unattractive.

For Weekend Update, I’m Seth Yerems. That’s opposite day, I guess. Not exactly your name backwards, but close, Sethly. Edit: because he actually said Seth Your-ers. I misheard. And stand corrected. That is all.

High School Musical 4: I enjoy the premise of the sketch, but it’s a little dry to blog. No one sings in college, people punched the Zef, he’s no good at basketball, and nobody knows the capital of Texas. Because that’s the second Texas shout out this episode, proving that they all love me. Oh, Walt Disney you anti-Semite.

Train Goodbye: I find this so oddly hilarious. Sudeikis’ weird looks in the back. Bobby Moynihan speeding past the train. “You’re my home!” They rewrote the hell out of this sketch. She ate a bird originally. And a prairie dog. And they didn’t end up engaged. But still funny.

Geno’s Pizza Rolls Commercial: “HEY I AM YOUR MOTHERRERERERRRERRR.” Baby blue eyes looks so stressed out in this sketch. Bangs all askew from being beaten by the manly lady. Fred is great in this. Andy’s pretty useless, though. How terrifying.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Maps”: My old roommate Sheena came to dress with me, and for a period of time while we were living together, “Maps” was our song. So, thank you to Rock Band for allowing us to hear our song. Sniff. Though I would’ve been fine with another new song, I get the point of playing what you’re known for. People might not correlate who you are otherwise. It’s like Ray LaMontagne playing “Trouble” a few weeks back. This song was written by Karen O when her boyfriend was going on tour and they were planning it all out. I’ve always thought that was a sweet story. Though I’m pretty sure her and the dude from the Liars broke up. And now she lives in LA, which is so weird to me, because she’s a total NYC chick.

Foot Rub: I actually wrote down the line “Get your ranch dressing in her hidden valley” during dress because it made me laugh so hard. Did Zac Efron’s sock say “Winger” at the bottom of it? The Zef is cue card reading all over the place here. Jason Sudeikis can totally give me a Batman the TV show foot rub while we listen to “Always and Forever” with the lights dimmed. Sudeikis got the Zefron foot in the mouth. At dress, Zac kicked him in the head and flipped out of the chair. He never quite made it there. Sudeikis wins at life, because how hard must it be while someone wearing a shoe kicks at your head and you try to cram their foot in your mouth? Sudeikis also wins at life for being the love of my life.

What Got Cut:

Sproingo and JarGlove commercials: These have both been aired before.

Use Your Noodle: A kid’s show hosted by Zac Efron and Greg who is Not an Alien, as we all know from the Dwayne Johnson episode. He sucks the life out of the youth to survive. It was pretty funny. Bill Hader as Greg is just thorougly entertaining. Bill Hader as anything, really.

Guys in Sunglasses Looking Dope: The Digital of the week. It’s self-explanatory, and it wasn’t that funny. “Hey, look at Jason wearing Oakleys. Dope!”

Gator World: A few white trash folks drive to see the 18 foot gator at Gator World, but first have to be entertained by Gator World’s owner’s chicks and flamboyant stepson. They sing and dance and do choreography, and it was pretty hilarious to me (at points), overall it was a weak sketch and I knew it would be cut, though I did want to see them sing the classics rewritten to be about Gators again. The Zef really does have a strong voice. The gator was dead at the end, so nobody got to see the gator.

Alliance of Direct Mail Marketing Message Pt 2: This one was funnier, and I can see it being aired at a later time. It was mainly about gay porn mail and Sudeikis getting angry at the people who hate junk mail.

Jeff Montgomery: The traditional holiday Jeff Montgomery sketch got cut again (see Valentine’s Day with Alec Baldwin), but this one was at least funnier than that. He was Trick or TrEastering, and Sudeikis knew who he was and had Zac Efron call the cops. Jeff Montgomery liked the fact that he was 18 and kept being all molestery and “whaaat”y as Jeff Montgomery is.

The Real Zac Efron: An interview with BOP Magazine where things get very dark and he discusses the real Zac Efron. “What’s your most embarrassing date?” “She spoke no English, I spoke no Malaysian. I was banished from the village. We snuck away in the dead of night with her infant son who turned out to be a cask of heroin. She fled never to be seen again.” “OMG, I would be so totally embarrassed.” Also, pizza is awesome.

Balcony: Two youngins sing on a balcony about finding their true love, to the tune of “Can You Feel the Love Tonight,” with a few interludes by some Peeping Toms, partygoers peeing off a balcony, a robber, a skunk hunter and a barbecuer. It was fantastic. Zac sounded great. Abby Elliott didn’t really. Kenan was hilarious. Absolutely hilarious. I’m sad this one was cut, but I hear they may turn it into a digital short or try to use it with Justin Timberlake. As it should be. Though JT can’t really pull off the young boyish charm anymore, can he?

Closing: Dress rehearsal was 2.5 hours long, so they cut an hour of show out. It seemed to run really smoothly, Zac was willing and able, Yeah Yeah Yeahs sounded great, Sudeikis was in pretty much every single sketch, and the cast was all totally on. I really enjoyed the episode. Wasn’t my favorite of the season or anything, but it was enjoyable from start to finish. They cut a ton of filler out of the sketches which allowed it to focus on all of the jokes. It’s an improvement from the Seth Rogen episode where there was some good material but it was all bogged down with too much filler. Can’t wait for the Justin episode! He always gets the good stuff.